Boris Johnson tells taxi driver to ‘f*** off and die’

London Mayor Boris Johnson’s office has defended him after he was filmed engaged in a four-letter tirade with a London cabbie.

The bicycling Mr Johnson told a black-cab driver to “fuck off and die” after being harangued late at night in Islington in north London.

The row was about rival minicab-booking service, Uber. Its whose activities have led to protests by London taxi drivers. They see it as unregulated competition.

The 10-second video, obtained by the Sun and Daily Mail, shows the driver leaning out of his window and shouting at Johnson: “You are one of them, mate, that’s what you are. One of them.”

Johnson, the newly elected Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, then replies: “Why don’t you fuck off and die — and not in that order.”

An ally of Johnson said the cabbie was a “serial heckler”. “He offered Boris a few choice words. Boris felt obliged to offer him a few in return. And off they went,” said the source.

Black-cab drivers have been critical of Johnson’s handling of Uber, and the Islington incident sparked Labour’s London Assembly transport spokesperson Val Shawcross to say: “The mayor has the power to put in place a strategy to tackle the challenges facing the industry. But so far he’s completely failed to respond.”